Figure 1 – American goldfinch (Spinus tristis), Little Fresh Pond, Fresh Pond Reservation, Cambridge, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2015

You see the bird watchers at Fresh Pond in September stalking the goldfinches. For goldfinches this is their most spectacular time of year and they are very busy. They typically hardly stay still for a photograph. I was treated yesterday by this female American goldfinch (Spinus tristis), which typically have a greenish yellow coloration, pretty in its own right even if it pales in comparison to the male’s bright yellow. This one sat still enough long enough for me to really get “a bead on it.” I slowing moved around until I got her with a good side view and head turned down coy pose. And I especially love it when the picture shows the fine features of food in the bid’s mouth.

A couple walking around the Pond stopped politely and when I had finished taking my pictures asked what I had photographed. We chatted for a while and they equally politely squinted at the images in my view finder.

There is this golden light and a warm sense of harvest abundance, especially for the birds who feast on end of summer seeds, which are everywhere. Among these are the delicate milkweed pods, which will always remind me of the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” The colors are just starting to change, with the dominant red coming from the year’s crop of poison ivy.  This is everywhere.

Can T2I with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at , ISO 1600 with Aperture Priority AE mode, 1/2000th sec at f/4.5 with no exposure compensation.